The shareholders of Bremer Kreditbank AG and Oldenburgische Landesbank AG approved the merger of the two German lenders at their respective annual general meetings, the banks said Aug. 14.

After buying a 95.3% stake in Oldenburgische Landesbank in February, Bremer Kreditbank bid to squeeze out the former bank's minority shareholders a month later. The merger of the two banks' operations has already been approved by their boards and submitted to the German financial market regulator, Bafin. The formal inclusion of the newly merged company in the official trade register is still pending, according to the banks' statement.

Oldenburgische Landesbank announced Aug. 13 that CEO Patrick Tessmann, who led the sale to Bremer Kreditbank, will step down at the end of August. The supervisory board will name a successor soon.